


Binding Agents

by podsandpuppies



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Cooking, Cross-Generational Friendship, Gen, Living Together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-09
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-07 14:37:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15221342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/podsandpuppies/pseuds/podsandpuppies
Summary: After Yuri moves into Lilia's house during training, he feels like he's walking on eggshells because the place is too damn clean. Luckily for him, the kitchen is a perfect place to make a mess and to become friends with your mentor.





	Binding Agents

**Author's Note:**

  * For [azimutal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/azimutal/gifts).



Yuri had showered and even combed his hair that morning, but the moment he walked through Lilia’s front door he felt unkempt. He stepped onto the welcome mat, which was sitting on a wooden floor so shiny it could have been put in yesterday. Beyond the entryway was a living room with a spotless white carpet and delicate pastel pink walls. He could just see a bathroom with such stark white floors and cabinets that it could've been in a doctor’s office.

“Welcome home,” Lilia said as he gazed at his surroundings. “The bedrooms are down this hall.”

Lilia walked toward them and Yuri followed her. The bedroom was the same as the rest of the house. Perfect white walls, wooden floors, and a neatly made bed. The room’s only redeeming quality was the plush rug that Yuri had no doubt he would lay on while playing with Potya.

“Thanks,” he muttered, setting his bags and the cat carrier down.

“My room is to the left and Yakov’s is across the hall from yours if you should need anything. I trust that you will keep quiet if you are awake after either of us is asleep. Potya may go anywhere in the house provided you clean up if she makes any messes.”

Yuri had to hold himself back from rolling his eyes. As if he hadn’t been taking good care of his cat himself for the past three years. And it wasn’t like he’d be staying up late anyway, with the training schedule they had him on. But it was best to be polite to Lilia because she’d find ways to make his training hell even more than it already was, so he nodded and said, “Okay.”

“Is there anything else you need?”

He shook his head.

“Very well. Get settled, and I will make lunch.”

Lilia turned around and left, and Yuri opened the carrier. He flopped down on the bed with a sigh, Potya quickly leaping up to rest on his chest. It was going to be a long skating season living in this house.

***

Lunch was disappointing. Lunch was always disappointing when it was training season. It tasted fine – wonderful, in fact – but a cold salad just added to the cold cleanliness of the house. He wondered if he might get the chance to make some of his grandpa’s dishes on a cheat day, but he’d probably make too much of a mess to be allowed in the kitchen.

***

Yuri tried to keep things neat. He really did. But after four days of Lilia never entering his room and several incredibly exhausting days of practice, he gave up. He stopped bothering to put his clothes in the hamper right away. He left towels from his shower draped across various surfaces in his room instead of hanging them back up in the bathroom to dry. He still cleaned it up when he woke up to find Potya’s vomit in the closet where she’d taken to sleeping, but otherwise he stopped bothering.

He was still careful around the rest of the house, and it often felt like walking on eggshells. He felt too dirty and messy to exist in this place, especially after a day of sweat and hard work. Most of the time, he went back to his room where things had reached a more comfortable state and only came out at mealtimes, where he did his best to make conversation with Lilia and Yakov.

***

It was two weeks before he had an evening off from his diet and he was thinking about how much he’d like to have some of the ice cream in the freezer after whatever dinner happened to be. He wasn’t sure if Lilia would stick to the normal meal plan for dinner or make something different, and he was about to ask when she spoke.

“Yakov tells me that you’re accustomed to cooking frequently with your grandfather. Do you want to cook dinner with me tonight? We can have whatever you like.”

Yuri blinked in shock, then answered hesitantly. “Yes,” he said. “I’d like that. Can we make piroshki?”

Lilia smiled, which Yuri had only seen her do twice before. “Of course. We can purchase what we need on the way home this afternoon.”

***

When Yuri entered the kitchen to make dinner, he stared at the now familiar shining surfaces and hesitated.

“What’s wrong?” Lilia asked.

Yuri bit his lip, wondering if he should say anything. “It’s just… things get so messy when I cook.”

“Yura, this kitchen has seen plenty of mess before. That is what kitchens are for.”

“But it’s always so clean in here! Even after you’ve made something.”

“That is because I clean as soon as I am finished, which you would know if you didn’t spend every minute in your room. Now, let’s cook dinner. There are aprons in the pantry.”

***

Cooking with Lilia was surprisingly fun. She was every bit the commanding presence she was during practice, but she smiled a lot more. It turned out, Yuri discovered quickly, that Lilia really enjoyed cooking. Which he should have guessed based on how tasty the food she’d been making was, but it still came as a surprise. Once while poaching fish, she’d actually laughed.

Yuri began to spend more and more time in the kitchen as he got used to being allowed to make a mess. It was a relief to have two rooms in the house where he could just exist, even if it felt like he was walking on polished eggshells everywhere else.

As a result of spending more time in the kitchen with Lilia, he found himself learning far more than the dance he practiced during training. He’d done a fair amount of cooking with his grandpa, but he wasn’t worrying about his diet when he was at home. Lilia, apparently from her years as a dancer, had learned how to make healthy foods that actually tasted good. She let him choose what to make on his days off, but most of the time she was showing him how to make things taste their best.

The most fun he had showing her how to make something was in November after he received some of his grandfather’s katsudon piroshki and replicated them. Both Lilia and Yakov had been skeptical, but Yuri was so happy to have something new from his grandfather to show her that he couldn’t keep the grin off his face while they tasted it. They both liked it and everyone enjoyed the dinner, even though Potya nearly snatched half the plate and had to be unceremoniously shut in Yuri’s room.

***

The day after they returned from Barcelona, all of them delighted by his new gold medal, Lilia unveiled her most prized recipe when Yuri entered the kitchen for breakfast.

“I have been wanting to show you this for a long time, but it is a recipe for celebrations. It is a dessert my grandmother taught me to make when I was a little girl. You have made me proud and now I will show it to you.”

Yuri listened as intently as he could for having woken up only fifteen minutes prior while Lilia explained what was needed. When she pointed to the apples and told him to start peeling, he did, but he kept looking over his shoulder at what she was preparing as well. He watched as she starting spooning sugar into the mixture and as a result he caught it when she spilled it all over the counter.

He tried to hold back his laughter. He truly did. But when Lilia looked in his direction and caught his eyes, he couldn’t contain it, and soon they were both laughing.

As they started to calm down, Lilia said, “This is why I told you it is okay to make a mess in the kitchen as long as you clean it up when you’re done. Even I spill the sugar sometimes!”

***

The recipe took a long time to be ready. It wasn’t completely done until the next day, in fact, which both frustrated Yuri and made him appreciate Lilia’s desire to teach him even more. He’d tried to become more patient and he thought he had with all the training he’d been doing, but cooking something that took an entire day was a test. But Lilia assured him that when it was ready, the work and the wait would pay off, just like it had with his ballet training and choreography.

The moment Lilia said it was ready to eat, he eagerly grabbed a piece, then thought better of it and grabbed a second one and passed it to Lilia. Yakov was already at the rink, working with some of the other skaters who hadn’t gone to Barcelona. He would give a piece to him later.

He took a bite of the dessert, and it was divine. “This is f— this is delicious, Lilia. Thank you for showing me how to make it.”

A small smile spread across her face. “Thank you for being willing to learn. I’m proud of you Yuri, for your gold medal and everything else.”

Yuri felt a rush of warmth for her, and in the spur of the moment he did something entirely unprecedented: he stepped forward and he looped his arms around her waist in a hug.

“Thank you so much. For everything.”

Her arms looped around his back and she patted him. “Of course, Yuri.”


End file.
